Rating: 
Summary: you've heard this one before
Review: I hate to be cranky, but this is a rehash of creaky gossip in an attractive package. No original research going on here at all. If nobody's ever told you what 'Rosebud' really refers to, or that Valentino's grave was visited by a "mysterious lady in black" (gosh), this might be a good intro for you. Otherwise, if you'd rather not skate on the surface, may I point you elsewhere? Would that be okay? For LA architectural history, try Charles Moore's brilliant & reprinted "City Observed". For the sleaze, go with the font, Kenneth Anger. For an in-depth look at H'wood in the teens and 20's, I'd try Kevin Brownlow's "Parade's Gone By."
Rating: 
Summary: Riddled with inaccuracies
Review: I opened this book with high hopes, reaching the photograph opposite Chapter 1. It purported to be taken in 1917 of Mack Sennett, directing Zasu Pitts in "The Little Princess." Well, no. It is Mack, I will grant you, but he never directed Mary Pickford's "The Little Princess", and the lady in the photograph is unmistakably Mabel Normand. (The film, by the way, is "The Extra Girl" and no, it was not filmed in 1917!) Of course, everyone can make a mistake, so I turned to another page. There was the Alvarado duplex where William Desmond Taylor met his death: alas, identified as the Brentwood house where Sharon Tate was killed. Ye Gods, did the book not have an editor? Did the editor not have a pulse? A tired rehash of unsubstantiated gossip, this book has some wonderful (but misidentified) photos, and nothing to suggest that we should trust the author. Read Brownlow, find the Kobal collection, but by all means, steer clear of this one.
Rating:
Summary: Riddled with inaccuracies
Review: I opened this book with high hopes, reaching the photograph opposite Chapter 1. It purported to be taken in 1917 of Mack Sennett, directing Zasu Pitts in "The Little Princess." Well, no. It is Mack, I will grant you, but he never directed Mary Pickford's "The Little Princess", and the lady in the photograph is unmistakably Mabel Normand. (The film, by the way, is "The Extra Girl" and no, it was not filmed in 1917!) Of course, everyone can make a mistake, so I turned to another page. There was the Alvarado duplex where William Desmond Taylor met his death: alas, identified as the Brentwood house where Sharon Tate was killed. Ye Gods, did the book not have an editor? Did the editor not have a pulse? A tired rehash of unsubstantiated gossip, this book has some wonderful (but misidentified) photos, and nothing to suggest that we should trust the author. Read Brownlow, find the Kobal collection, but by all means, steer clear of this one.
Rating: 
Summary: full of mistakes
Review: Like every other reviewer has said, the number of mistakes in this book frustrated me. I adore silent film and Hollywood history and I took this as an insult. It just seemed as though he author relied on a rusty memory and didn't bother to check his claims, figuring no one would notice (because no one these days likes silent film.) The most annoying mistake to me was where he says CB DeMille's film DYNAMITE contains a scene of a costume party aboard a zeppelin. No, that was MADAM SATAN! There are too many other mistakes ranging from the miniscule to the obvious (DW Griffith direced GREED?) I'm sure there were a ton of other mistakes that I wasn't aware of and knowing that while reading this book bothered me. This book is okay for a light read, but for film buffs, all the mistakes will disappoint.
Rating:
Summary: full of mistakes
Review: Like every other reviewer has said, the number of mistakes in this book frustrated me. I adore silent film and Hollywood history and I took this as an insult. It just seemed as though he author relied on a rusty memory and didn't bother to check his claims, figuring no one would notice (because no one these days likes silent film.) The most annoying mistake to me was where he says CB DeMille's film DYNAMITE contains a scene of a costume party aboard a zeppelin. No, that was MADAM SATAN! There are too many other mistakes ranging from the miniscule to the obvious (DW Griffith direced GREED?) I'm sure there were a ton of other mistakes that I wasn't aware of and knowing that while reading this book bothered me. This book is okay for a light read, but for film buffs, all the mistakes will disappoint.
Rating: 
Summary: EXCITING, RICH and SHARP
Review: LOST HOLLYWOOD is a provacative leap into the lives of those titanic silver screen heroes of the 20s and 30s. The place that is now so mythical and cheesy (really little more than nepotism and a sign on a hill) is unearthed by the author, and in this book he makes the romantic and glamorous Hollywood glisten--the legends themselves awakened, jerking, jumping, wailing and playing. Hollywood will once again be the place of dreams because of this book...
Rating:
Summary: Where were the fact checkers?
Review: Maybe there is an updated edition with corrections, but why would any publishing house put out a book this riddled with errors in the first place?
David Wallace is in trouble even before the first chapter of "Lost Hollywood." The photo caption on a picture opposite chapter one is full of mistakes. I'm not sure that's ZaSu Pitts, and I question whether the photo is from "A Little Princess"--a movie in which Pitts played the downtrodden Becky, and this pic shows her in a cute pantaloon outfit with a parasol. At any rate, that movie was not directed by Mack Sennett, as the caption states (it was directed by Marshall Neilan) and although ZaSu P. was in "A Little Princess," it was not her first picture and, in fact, "A Little Princess" starred Mary Pickford. Pitts was always a character actress and never a film heroine as Wallace claims; and "Greed" was directed by Erich von Stroheim, not DW Griffith as Wallace would have us think. And this is just a photo caption! What a way to kick off a book.
For someone who lives in Los Angeles, Wallace also has a shaky grasp on LA geography. The city of San Pedro is described as Hollywood's "neighbor"--it must have taken hours to get from one town to the other in the silent era and it is not much better now. The Edendale studios were in Silverlake, not in Glendale (we're on page 6 at this point).
Does this guy not imagine that there are scores of people who know enough about Hollywood history to be apalled by the lack of easy research? This is a sloppy and innacurate piece of work and there is no excuse for it.
Rating:
Summary: Where were the fact checkers?
Review: Maybe there is an updated edition with corrections, but why would any publishing house put out a book this riddled with errors in the first place? David Wallace is in trouble even before the first chapter of "Lost Hollywood." The photo caption on a picture opposite chapter one is full of mistakes. Yes, that is ZaSu Pitts, but I question whether the photo is from "A Little Princess"--a movie in which Pitts played the downtrodden Becky, and this pic shows her in a cute pantaloon outfit with a parasol. At any rate, that movie was not directed by Mack Sennett, as the caption states (it was directed by Marshall Neilan) and although ZaSu P. was in it, it was not her first picture and, in fact, "A Little Princess" starred Mary Pickford. Pitts was always a character actress and never a film heroine as Wallace claims; and "Greed" was directed by Erich von Stroheim, not DW Griffith as Wallace would have us think. And this is just a photo caption! What a way to kick off a book. For someone who lives in Los Angeles, Wallace also has a shaky grasp on LA geography. The city of San Pedro is described as Hollywood's "neighbor"--it must have taken hours to get from one town to the other in the silent era and it is not much better now. The Edendale studios were in Silverlake, not in Glendale (we're on page 6 at this point). Does this guy not imagine that there are scores of people who know enough about Hollywood history to be apalled by the lack of easy research? This is a sloppy and innacurate piece of work and there is no excuse for it.
Rating: 
Summary: A Book Long Overdue
Review: When I first visited Hollywood a few years ago, I was extremely disappointed that many of the sites I wanted to see (the Brown Derby, Schwab's, Ocean House, Pickfair, the Sunset Blvd. house) are no longer there -- long ago torn down by a town that has no respect for its own past. What makes this even more puzzling is the large number of tourists who flock to the movie capital every year. LOST HOLLYWOOD gave me the tour I wanted. It not only tells about the lost buildings, but about the people who lived and played there, and built Hollywood. Wallace shows a deep reverence for things past and tells Hollywood's story openly an honestly. The book is filled with little stories that amaze, surprise, and touch your heart (most especially Gene Tierney working at the Hollywood Canteen). I'd easily give it five stars, except that it really needs a lot more photos (and a better proof reader). There's also a caption that incorrectly cites D.W. Griffith as the director of Erich Von Stroheim's masterpiece, Greed (1925). Still, a superb book. Thank you, David Wallace! I am forever in your debt.
Rating:
Summary: A Thoughtful and Insightful Exploration
Review: Wow! Somewhere between the historical riches and the conversational bluestreaks that make this book so insightful, a billiant and delicate light shines--a light that illuminates a place I never knew existed; a light which studies that place with the grace and wonder it deserves. Welcome back to the real legends--an electrifying read!
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